Stephen "tWitch" Boss got his big break when he landed a gig as the house DJ for The Ellen
DeGeneres Show, which then led to a role in Magic Mike XXL.
Let's find out just how he went from daytime TV to thongs and stripper poles.
Stephen Boss earned the nickname "tWitch" during his adolescence.
His special style of dance is known as "popping," which consists of jerky, almost robotic movements.
Thus, his peers christened him "tWitch."
In an interview with Kam Williams, Boss confirmed that his nickname went all the way back to
his childhood, when he was, quote, "always spinning and staying in motion."
Of course, the word "twitch" doesn't always have the most flattering connotation, but
Boss nevertheless had no issue keeping it into adulthood.
As he told Williams,
"I don't mind it at all, because it's a part of my being.
It's become part of my persona, when it comes to dance."
Boss has also claimed that his nickname came from his old car, a mildly reliable Toyota
Paseo that he had in the 90s.
As he explained to Alabama.com,
"I took (the name) tWitch when I was about 20 years old because that was when I first
started dancing, going places and teaching dance, and a lot of my dance knowledge and
a lot of my dance thoughts took place in that car.
Driving from place to place [...] I'd choreograph in the car."
Thanks to his smile and charming ways, Boss later earned a second nickname when he appeared
on So You Think You Can Dance: "Mr. Personality."
Boss' first major movie role was an uncredited part as "Flamboyant Dancer" in the 2007 ice
skating comedy Blades of Glory.
This led to some more roles, including a few appearances in the Step Up series.
Then in 2015 he landed perhaps his biggest role yet in Magic Mike XXL.
In an interview with Paste, Boss explained that both Magic Mike himself, Channing Tatum,
and his then-wife Jenna Dewan were both big fans of So You Think You Can Dance.
After Dewan came on as a guest judge, she pulled Boss aside during one of the breaks
and told him that they were making a sequel to Magic Mike and that his name was being
tossed around.
The Magic Mike team did indeed find a place for Boss and his acting skills didn't disappoint.
Tatum had only the highest praise for Boss.
When a reporter asked him who the best dancer in Magic Mike XXL was, tWitch was the first
name that came to mind.
"He walks in and I hadn't even started working out for the movie yet, and he walks in looking
like I'm planning on wanting to look like.
You know, it was just like, 'What?'"
As far as hobbies go, a professional dancer might lean towards music or other art forms.
But for "tWitch" Boss, his secret love comes in the form of comics, particularly Superman.
He loves the Man of Steel so much that he even enjoys dressing a bit like the superhero.
As he admitted in an interview with Reuters,
"I am a very big Superman fan.
So that Clark Kent look is what the glasses is about."
Boss' love of Supes is on full display on his Instagram.
When he got married, he posted a photo of himself and his groomsmen revealing T-shirts
under their formal wear that showed off their favorite superheroes.
Then for his honeymoon, he posted a video of himself dressed in a Superman costume while
bungee jumping.
Of course, he took a running leap with outstretched arms to match a Superman pose.
He's also shown off his two super dogs, who are named Krypto and Luna Lane.
There's really no debate about whether or not tWitch is an insanely talented dancer.
As his IMDb page demonstrates, almost all of his early screen credits involve busting
a move.
This has included appearing as himself and strutting some moves on TV and appearing in
big budget dance flicks like Step Up 3D and Stomp the Yard: Homecoming.
But while he could easily stick to dance and dance only, he has many other talents that
he likes to nurture.
As he told Kam Williams,
"I would prefer mostly acting, but I would like to still like to be in the dance world,
as well.
I've been studying acting in preparation for the next opportunity where a role comes along
that isn't attached to a dance component."
Sure enough, he took that first leap when he became the house DJ on Ellen in 2012.
Fortunately for Boss, he didn't grow up in Elmore City, Oklahoma, the religious town
that once banned dancing and loosely inspired Footloose.
Instead, he spent his formative years in Montgomery, Alabama, where he was for the most part raised
religious.
Montgomery is perhaps most famous for its role in the civil rights movement, a fact
not lost on Boss at all.
As he told Kam Williams,
"Its history is very deep, and I'm so grateful to be from there.
It really helps me in my day-to-day life.
It helped me establish my values, my base of who I am and how I feel about things."
Though he started dancing as a kid, he didn't think about it seriously as a possible career
until high school.
In fact, he even planned to join the Navy if he failed to make it onto So You Think
You Can Dance in 2008.
He drew inspiration from his high school classmates, who performed ballet, jazz, and other styles
of dance that he was previously ignorant about.
This challenged him to step up and start taking dance seriously as a possible career track.
When Boss signed on for Magic Mike XXL, the role came with some delicate prerequisites.
For one thing, he had to learn how to wear some rather revealing undergarments.
As he revealed to PopSugar,
"[It was] slightly painful, the first couple of steps [...] then you get used to it, oddly
enough, you do."
As far as dancing, Boss admitted to the New York Post that he stripped for fun at high
school parties when his spirit moved him and his shirt somehow ended up off.
Still, he needed a signature song for his solo stripping performance in the movie.
After plenty of exploration, he landed on "Sex You" by Bando Jonez.
The preparation for the role involved more than just listening to music.
In an interview with Paste, Boss revealed that for his extensive research, he didn't
visit any strip clubs, though he did watch more videos of male entertainers than he would
care to admit.
"We're just trying to balance the equation of objectifying.
You know, we've been objectifying women long enough, so let's objectify some men."
After all was said and done, Boss ultimately wanted to keep a few family members from seeing
the film to avoid any awkward holiday conversations.
Thus, he made sure to keep his grandparents and in-laws away from the theater.
Here's a truly heartwarming story of two dancers who met and fell in love.
Stephen "tWitch" Boss and Allison Holker were originally on separate seasons of So You Think
You Can Dance, but then they appeared together on the all-star seventh season.
As Holker explained in an interview with Hollywood Life,
"We never went on a first date.
Never had a conversation longer than 'hello' and 'how are you?'
We shared a dance together and have been together ever since."
This isn't to say that she didn't send some signals early on.
As she confessed to Ask Men,
"I touched his butt in a rehearsal and he still didn't get the hint!"
Since those early days, the pair have gone on to build an incredible family.
Boss told Mini Magazine that his relationship with Holker works because the two of them
are complementary to one another.
In his words,
"We are quite literally the yin and yang.
The ebb and flow.
One's struggle is the other's strength."
In 2019, Boss and Holker welcomed their third child together, with Boss sharing the happy
news on Instagram.
"Just the introduction of even just a newborn just kind of throws the entire thing off-balance,
so just pray for us."
The man once referred to as "Mr. Personality" got that nickname from being more than just
a pretty face and dancer.
In fact, Boss and his wife have both been involved in philanthropic pursuits.
For example, they partnered with JetBlue to ensure that children have access to books.
The company's Soar with Reading program provided free books to children in underserved communities
via a vending machine.
Boss talked with Ask Men about how the partnership works so well, explaining,
"When JetBlue approached us and said they were donating 100,000 books to kids living
in book deserts in the Bay Area, we were blown away.
We love that they’re doing something that helps kids who are the same age as ours become
better learners."
Additionally, in an interview with Kam Williams, Boss shared his charitable goals in the future.
He noted that once he becomes famous enough, he would like to build a community center
in his hometown of Montgomery, Alabama.
No one is born with a pair of tap shoes on, so dance moves have to come from somewhere
outside the womb.
For Stephen "tWitch" Boss, his inspiration came from the King of Pop.
In an interview with Alabama.com, he revealed that Michael Jackson was his favorite dancer
and inspired him to start dancing himself.
As he put it,
"With Michael, when he was onstage every single movement that he did, even if he just tilted
his head and the rest of him was still standing still you could still feel his movement and
I could never not watch him."
In high school, Boss was cast in a production of The Wiz, whose film version starred Jackson
as the Scarecrow.
It was during rehearsals that he had to learn choreography, and from that moment on, he
started forming his personal style by watching his classmates and music videos.
Even though he's now a professional dancer, Boss still finds inspiration from all over,
even his boss.
He told the New York Post that he watched Ellen DeGeneres in preparation for his role
in Magic Mike XXL.
As he put it,
"I get to watch her dance every day, so of course I picked up on certain moves that she
likes to do."
DeGeneres might not be known for busting stripper-ready moves, but to each their own!
For Magic Mike XXL, a movie full of shirtless men playing strippers, it's no surprise that
there was competitiveness among the cast.
Even people with limited roles brought their A-game.
For example, Boss admitted to the New York Post that he thought Michael Strahan, a former
professional football player, had amazing moves.
But in an interview with Vibe, Boss made sure to note that it actually wasn't a totally
ego-centric and testosterone-filled set.
And if there was any competition, it was actually healthy and supportive more than anything
else.
Still, the demands of being on the big screen may have fueled Boss' intense workout regimen.
Even his costar Channing Tatum called Boss out for his time in the gym.
In an interview with PopSugar, Boss revealed that Tatum got on him because he works out
too much.
To be fair, Boss was just trying to keep up with some gigantic guys whom he was dancing
alongside, like Joe Manganiello.
In fact, he told Vibe that Manganiello looks like Superman, and we know how much Boss likes
Superman.
"I've been, uh, working out."
It was in high school that Boss first realized that dancing could be more than just a hobby.
He noticed studio dancers in the background of music videos and realized that he could
make a career out of busting a move.
And he's certainly gone on to make that dream come true.
Boss also earns a pretty penny for his gig as the DJ on Ellen.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, he earns a reported $500,000 for his work on the daytime
show.
He also landed a job as the announcer and sidekick on Ellen's Game of Games, which reportedly
came with a $1 million per year contract.
All in all, he's worth an estimated $5 million.
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